The Idaho Consortium for Physical Therapist Assistant Education (a collaboration between four Idaho institutions: College of Southern Idaho, College of Western Idaho, Lewis-Clark State College and North Idaho College), received verbal notification recently that it has received probationary accreditation status.

With funding from a Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant, the consortium received candidate status through its accrediting body the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education in 2013. This is the only consortium of its kind in the nation where lab instruction is delivered at each institution. Accreditation was withheld in November 2015, based in part on the unique structure of the consortium and multiple instructional labs. Elevation from withheld accreditation status to probationary status means that the consortium’s first cohort of students, which completed in December 2015, will be able to sit for their licensure examinations in April of this year. A complete report from CAPTE on the accreditation review is due within the next few weeks.

“Achieving probationary accreditation status is huge step for our consortium and our students,” said NIC Health Professions Division Chair Rand Edwards, who is also the interim director of the Idaho Consortium for Physical Therapist Assistant Education. “After the review, the team of commissioners were very complimentary of our students. We were told to expect a formal commendation on the report for our administrative collaborative efforts.”